The Metallic Gold Leotard and Jeff Hurt

My mother regrets not putting me in dance class when I was a little girl. She admits that now, but for years I secretly blamed it on her for thinking I was too fat for a leotard. Actually, it wasn't a secret. She said, "Kylee [my younger sister] is just built more like a dancer" which, let's be honest, translates into, "You're just too fat to be a dancer, sweetie." I, instead, took piano lessons.

Nevertheless, nothing could stop me from embarrassing myself by putting on the record player outside (and then the tape player and then the CD player - technology progressed like mad while I was a kid) and dancing wildly on the back porch, emulating the movements of the Solid Gold dancers. I imagined a tour bus would get stranded and some famous person would stumble across me dancing in the middle of Nowhere, Missouri, and would say, "Hey...kid! You have talent! Get on the bus - I'll make you a star!"

I had that dream, the Sweet Valley Twins book series, a little sister, and a latchkey. Those were the days of Kool-Aid and Pringles.

Fast forward to this week and me receiving my shipment of dance wear in the mail. Inside the box was a metallic gold leotard, black stirrup tights, legwarmers, an off-the-shoulder midriff baring tee sporting "Dance" across the front in rainbow colors and sparkles, and a petticoat tiered black tricot skirt. Flashes of the Solid Gold dancers came into my mind as I visualized arriving at the DelCor booth (#226) for the American Society of Association Executives Annual Meeting (#ASAE10) wearing my new 80s inspired ensemble. A girl's dream realized on a 33-year-old's body. *sigh*

The theme for our booth is retro and so the plan was to dress from the 60s through 80s with a remembrance for old technology and nudge to attendees that if their technology at work looks like what we have in the booth, they may need some good advice. ;-) [DelCor provides technology consulting, so this isn't an entirely random message.]

Along with all of the excitement going on for the booth, there is an amazing amount of other fun stuff going on at ASAE10, too. For instance, I'm doing a Social Media Sweet Spot web show with my good friend and regular co-host Maddie Grant with a live audience from the conference. There will be council meetings, parties, learning sessions and a flash mob.

More importantly, there will also be a large number of people I admire and have corresponded with online whom I will have the chance to meet face-to-face for the first time ever at this meeting. Which brings me to Jeff Hurt.

This is an illustration of Jeff Hurt.

If you are not aware of who Jeff Hurt is, check it out:

• Prolific and respected blogger 
• Mastermind in the events industry
• Leader of awesomeness in the association realm
• Social Media All Around Cool Dude
• One of my online heroes

Jeff Hurt will be at ASAE10 and I will have the chance to finally meet and talk with him in person. I'll also be meeting Garry Polamateer, Lauren Fernandez, Christine Melendes, and a whole bunch of other cool folks I like and I hope will continue to like me. Even in my gold leotard.

So you see, the past, present, and future are colliding for me at ASAE10. My friends who are knowledgeable about physics might argue that this is already the case, that the idea of linear time is a fallacy and so I need not worry. 

Then I look at my shiny gold leotard and think that even physics can't help me now.

The 3 Most Important Benefits I Get For My Membership Dues

I just spent a couple of days in Providence, RI, with ASAE & The Center association leaders and I have come away from it with more connections, knowledge, and motivation to help get me revved up again to live life like I mean it. If anyone wants to know what they get for their membership dollars, I can tell you what my membership dollars pay for:

• Knowledge - The listservs, section councils, education sessions, publications, and other ongoing communications that add to the overall industry knowledge that is available has helped me from the very beginning of my association career. Much as the platform for the listserv conversation needs to be made more efficient, it was the first ASAE product I was drawn into and it provided the most learning for me in the early days. It also helped acquaint me with some of the big names in the association world.
  
• Connections -I love the Annual Meeting, with all of its ups and downs, because I get to learn from the most experienced and interesting minds in the community in the hallways and at the social functions. I back up what Jeff Hurt said recently about challenging conference attendees and speakers to put more effort into making the best of the learning sessions and opportunities available for teaching at the meetings. I have never walked away from a conference or workshop without learning something extremely valuable to help me do better in my career and for the industry. The times when I have learned the least have been when I haven't participated as fully as I should have in one way or another.
  
• Experience - ASAE & The Center has afforded me the opportunities to volunteer for councils, task forces, and all kinds of activities which have enabled me to learn detailed data about studies related to my work and have helped me to hone a variety of leadership skills. Through my volunteer efforts I have been able to fully embrace the importance of what all of us do for our organizations' members and in that way I think I will always find myself evangelizing membership. Passion is not too emotional of a word to use.  If a person isn't passionate about their industry, learning, career, community, money, or anything else influenced by the power of an association; then what else? 

While I was at the ASAE & The Center Leadership Retreat I received valuable career advice from friends who make hundreds of dollars per hour for consulting. This isn't the first time that has happened (and I'm fairly certain it won't be the last). But what am I giving back to ASAE as a result of their help in making this exchange possible on an ongoing basis?

• My energy and time - Because of ASAE & The Center's investment in me, I am going back to my council (I am vice-chair for the Component Relations Section Council) with a new commitment to helping the rest of the group get the most out of their time as possible by leading in a way that will help them and the Society.
• My money - I recently donated to the Annual Fund for Research & Innovation and I am going to be posting and tweeting occasionally about this on an ongoing basis to see if I can get my friends to do it, too.  [I'd like to check in with ASAE and see if there is a way that I could prove to ASAE that the association blogger and Twitter community can put up some serious dough...maybe get a code and more price points at which to donate online ($100 is the least amount you can donate easily online right now) so that we could show our strength. I'll let you know if anything like that comes together. :)]
• My attention - I will care about ASAE. I will talk about ASAE. I will share news about ASAE and with that attention others will see how much value I place with my involvement. If people see how much I get from my experience, then maybe they will join or participate more, too. This may seem like the most passive of the three ways I am giving back, but it could be the most valuable in the long run.

What do you get from your memberships? What do you give back?

Xer-Rated: Grade A Fresh

A delicious new conversation has erupted due to Maddie Grant's Xer Meme. Matt Baehr of BlogClump fame tagged me and now I am here picking up what Maddie is putting down.

The gist of the conversation? "Have Xers Sold Out?"

I think I quit my first real job out of college because of that question. My younger sister (who was attending art school in Chicago by day and singing in an all-girl punk band called "Twat Vibe" at the time) accused me of selling out. In her eyes, I had given up on my idealistic dreams of being a poet/artist in exchange for wearing suits to my marketing job where I made a whopping $26K a year.

But guess what? Along with loving stationary and pens and pretty paper; I also really got a kick out of seeing my name on a business card for the first time. I loved the chance to "change something from the inside" and it made me feel like I'd achieved something special. I liked wearing suits. I liked having an office. I liked having a steady paycheck and access to logo items. Who couldn't use a dozen golf towels with my company's logo on it? Class-y.

But my sister's comments made me wince. Had I sold out? What if I had? Should I try to do something else? Was it too late? Had I become just another cog?

I quit my job. I don't think I claimed the "sell out" reason at the time, but I know it played a role. I was a rebel in high school and had always prized individuality and creativity above all else. After I quit my job, I decided to immerse myself in poetry again and started working on a plan to have a creativity workshop based on exploring the five senses (an idea I still really like). I went so far as to have the area art studio, which was supported by grants from the NEA, agree to let me host the classes there. But I doubted myself too much and backed away...and went back into the "corporate world" where I could at least be sure I had insurance.

Today I truly believe I am living a GenX-agreeable lifestyle. Yes, I have the regular job, but I also do creative things on the side (and get paid for them). Yes, I have a nice car and live in the 'burbs with my husband, child, and dog...but I also went rollerskating with my sister after I had my daughter and still listen to the Cure on rainy days. I still push the envelope, too. I still expect more from my workplace than a paycheck. And yes, I would still walk away from a workplace if I didn't enjoy it. Absolutely.

I bring creativity to my day-to-day job and push into new areas focusing on building relationships. I do a lot outside of my paid work to learn and broaden my horizons...Gen Xer's are all about access to knowledge and I am no different.

I think the biggest change for me has been in my beliefs. I believe in myself more and consequently believe in others more than I ever have. I am hyper-aware of the changes that have taken place recently for our society and the ability for all of us to communicate with each other with an amazing speed!

Matt's opinion matches my own. I haven't sacrificed my integrity or morals for a paycheck. I've been able to apply my spirit and desire to change things to my work - all of my work.

This was fun to think about - thanks to Matt (and Maddie) for passing this on to me! Now, I will tag a few more people on this for their thoughts:

Deirdre Reid
Shannon Otto
Elizabeth Weaver Engel